The Legend of the Sixteen
by Tim46billion
Summary: Legend tells of Sixteen Dragons who guard Sixteen Weapons. The Grimm havery fallen into the past, and without that great uniting factor, Humans and Faunus turn to fight each other. Thus, the Silver Haired Man ventured forth to find the Sixteen Chosen ones, who are to bring the Dragons back to save the world. But, something dark looms in the background...
1. Patch

Long ago, before Dust and before Grimm, Humans and Faunus fought each other in mad, lustful grabs for power. In time, the Humans created the Sixteen, a full armory of weapons that could only be wielded by the purest of individuals. The magic that forged them, an old woman with purple hair and gave no name other than Silver, caused them to also be able to mutate themselves to constantly be ahead of anything anyone else could create.

Due to the fact that these weapons rejected – violently – anyone over a certain age, the Humans kidnapped sixteen babies and trained them from birth to wield the weapons. Swords, scythes, even gauntlets counted themselves among the ranks of the Sixteen. Thus, the children learned how to use these weapons better than they even knew how to speak.

Eventually, on their fifteenth year, they were deployed against the Faunus. However, due to the purity in their hearts and weapons, they were unable to attack. They cried out to the heavens, begging for mercy or release, and the heavens answered.

Two beings descended amongst the battlefield, halting it immediately. Silver and a man with silver hair landed amongst the children, and Silver spoke words that were never heard. The man, meanwhile, spoke to the opposing armies and negotiated peace. Then, all looked on as Silver turned the Sixteen children into Sixteen Dragons, giving each a power and a responsibility to the continuation of seasons.

Spring began with Rogue, who swept the winter storms away with her speed. Next came Triton, who lived in the water and raised its temperature. Then came Lotus, who began the growing process for plants; followed by Rose, the spring dragon who woke up hibernating animals.

The summer dragons began with Freyja, who watered the ground with storms. Xing heated up the days, and Xiang heated them up further. Sol finished summer off by making the days the longest of all.

Autumn dragons had their work cut out, beginning the slow process of cooling the world down. Belle started off by switching the length of days and nights. Osthato pushed plants to grow their best before harvest, and immediately after Nike brought about the Autumn leaves. Rayan finally cooled the temperatures to their pre-winter levels, after all three of the previous had been slowly doing that as well.

Winter dragons were the least favored, for no one enjoyed the cold season, but it did have one plus side. Togira came first, finishing Raven's job of cooling the world. Then Joan came and sent animals to hibernation. Eissen came second to last, freezing the world just in time for Reaper to do his job of wiping out the population of Grimm.

The Grimm spawned as a punishment to Humanity and Faunus for fighting. In order to unify the old enemies, and also drive them to better themselves, the Grimm came every year, usually beginning nearly immediately after the Cleansing, and attacked Civilization until Reaper wiped them from the face of the world once a year. It was for this reason that he was called the Hunter.

They were the dragons that made up the Sixteen. The problem was, how were they supposed to preform their duties, guard the Weapons, and defend against attacks from those who would exploit them? Simple; the only one who knew of their existence was the silver haired man.

()()()()()()()()

"Ah, yes, Peter. And Bartholomew, a pleasant surprise it is to see you. What can I do for you gentleman today?"

Behind the counter of a bookstore stood a man in green clothing, half-moon glasses, and silver hair. Against the wall behind him was a cane. He looked upon them pleasantly, for they were his most common customers.

"It's good to see you too, Oz. It's been a long while. Say, do you happen to have any books on the Sixteen this time around?"

Ozpin smiled. "Bart, you know that the Sixteen don't exist, yes? It's an old wives' tale to keep children from misbehaving. Besides, since when has there been an actual Grimm attack?"

"Ah, Ozpin. This reminds me of a time in my youth, when I saw Rogue–"

The door slammed open, revealing a particularly angry blond woman. She, like most present, had glasses on, but they did not hide the steely glare she set upon the man behind the counter.

"Atlas is sending troops to Menagerie."

Ozpin turned sharply toward her. "What?"

"Atlas is sending troops to Menagerie. Humans and Faunus are once again fighting. And why? Because the Grimm didn't come back."

"And what am I supposed to do about that? If the legends are to be believed–"

"Cut the crap, Ozpin, we know you're the Silver Haired Man."

Ozpin sobered. "Fine. You want the truth, I'll tell you the truth.

"When Silver passed her judgement on the world, cursing them with yearly Grimm raids, she promised that once a suitable amount of time had passed, the curse would lift. Knowing that this would leave Hunter with nothing to do for the rest of eternity, she gave him one final job: he would be able to rally all other dragons together should the need arise. In order for this to happen however, she entrusted the man with silver hair, me, with the location of his hidden nest. No other dragon's nest was revealed, for their locations were two valuable, and the combat ability of Hunter was the greatest, thus mitigating the risk, in her eyes. However, she set one further parameter: Dragons, Humans, and Faunus would have to work together as one to stop the threat."

"What does that mean?" asked Glynda.

"It means I can do nothing about this coming Human-Faunus war without sixteen humans and Faunus who also share a trait with one of the dragons, _and_ who are capable of combat."

"What traits would these people share?" asked the doctor in the room.

"Each of the dragons has a power, fairly similar to a Semblance. That is the only thing I can think of."

"So, we find, say, a speedster, and we have Rogue's partner, correct?" asked Port.

"Precisely."

"Will the age limit still apply to the weapons?"

Ozpin looked at each of them in turn. "I don't know. If any are above the age, we'll have to warn them."

"Final question, how do we find them, and how do we transport them to wherever Hunter is?"

"Perhaps General Ironwood would be willing to help? He has a large enough ship, access to Vale, Mantle, Mistral, Menagerie, and Vacuo citizen records, and he was transferred to Valentines under his own recommendation due to the increased tensions between Atlas and Menagerie."

"Good idea, Glynda," called the doctor.

* * *

Ruby laughed as she ran after her older sister. The whole family was out in the forests of Patch playing hide and seek. The eight-year-old crimsonette was "it", and had already caught and tagged Summer and Tai-Yang, and was now after her older sister.

Finally catching her, to a disgruntled "Hey!", she returned to the task at hand: finding the final two members of her family, who were legendary at hiding.

"Momma Birdy? Uncle Qrow? If you guys are birds, that's cheating!"

Her call got the response she was hoping for: an indignant Raven wondering aloud how she got the name "Mamma Birdy". Pinpointing the raven-haired woman's location, Ruby ran directly towards her, prompting her and Qrow to forsake their shared hiding place and take off towards the house.

"Did you _have_ to do that Raven?"

"What brother, afraid you'll get outrun by a little girl?"

"Little girl, no. My niece with a _speed semblance_ , yes."

"No special powers aloud, remember?"

"Squirt's still the fastest thing on two legs."

"You forgot one thing about cheating, Qrow." At his confused grunt, she continued, "I may need my wings to be faster than her, but not you!" she shouted as she tripped him, earning a shout of "Traitor!"

Ruby simply paused to tap a fallen Qrow on the head, saying "Tag!" before turning and racing after Raven once again. Raven was within sight of the house when she felt the last thing she wanted to feel: Ruby Rose's hand on her side. Looking down at the beaming child, she sighed, before slowing her pace and scooping the speedster up and glaring at her slightly.

"Whatever happened to letting me win to get more cookies?"

"Wellllll~ Mommy said if I got everyone I'd also get extra cookies, so I wanted to win _and_ get cookies, so I got you."

Raven sighed. "Well, I can't argue with that."

Raven carried the youngest into the house where all but Qrow were busy preparing dinner.

"The Squirt won again. Honestly I think you all are cheating, somehow," Raven called into the house as she set Ruby down.

Summer poked her head out of the kitchen. "Us? Cheat? Never!" She smiled and went back to the stove to stir the boiling pot of noodles, Ruby meanwhile joined Yang at the table.

"If anyone needs to be accused of cheating it's you," said Qrow as he walked down the stairs.

"Hey, she still got me, alright? Don't get your feathers in a bunch."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Summer, what's for dinner?"

"Spaghetti. Tai just put toast on in the oven. Why, thinking of staying the night? The guest room is made up."

This statement caused the eight and ten-year-olds in the room to begin loudly claiming he _must_ stay the night.

Raven took that moment to give a kiss on the cheek of both Summer and Tai-Yang, who quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?" she asked, smirking.

"Nothing. Just, didn't expect you to be so happy that you lost."

"Losing isn't really all that bad when you enjoy yourself and love those around you. Besides, I seem to recall Summer having to scold you for language when you were found. That might be the only reason she was even found."

Tai-Yang simply rolled his eyes.

The family all sat around the table to eat, and friendly conversation soon abounded. The atmosphere was pleasant and untroubled until the sound of a small fleet of bullheads shook the house. Summer and Raven grabbed their respective charges, while Tai grabbed his shotgun and Qrow procured his rifle from nowhere. They had heard about the unrest between Atlas and Menagerie, and knew it was better to be prepared.

Tai opened the door on the first knock, and both men present were surprised to see General Ironwood and a silver haired man standing behind him.

"May we come in? I hope we didn't interrupt anything."

Setting their firearms down Tai-Yang assured them that they could come in and that they were just about to pack up dinner. The women of the house came back down from where they'd hidden upstairs and joined the four men in the living room, keeping their children with them.

"I'm sorry to come so suddenly and completely unannounced, but this is a bit urgent. You've heard of the unrest between Atlas and Menagerie, correct?" at their signs of affirmative, he continued. "Well, then I can skip right to it. Atlas is deploying soldiers against Menagerie, and we need your help to stop them."

"Our help?" asked Qrow. "Why do you need our help?"

This is when the man with silver hair spoke up. "Have you ever heard of the Legend of the Sixteen?"

* * *

 **A/N: So. After years, I'm finally, _finally,_ getting this redone. As usual, Dragons of Remnant will remain uploaded for nostalgia purposes. But this... this is the true Dragon!RWBY story, now. Also, Inheritance/RWBY crossover... torally getting rewritten. I realized that I was so taking the easy way out. So I stopped. In any case, I hope you all enjoy.**


	2. Around the World

**BEFORE YOU READ: The first chapter has been heavily rewritten. I recommend you go back to the beginning (if you didn't just come from there) and re-read it. It's kind of important for story continuity.**

()()()()()()()()

The family was flabbergasted. They'd never even heard anything close to the story of cooperation Ozpin had spun.

"So you're telling us that were each like one of the dragons?" asked Qrow. "That's a load of bull–"

"Language!" interrupted Summer.

"–headed nonsense. How?"

"Miss Ruby has a speed semblance, like Rogue. Miss Yang has a fire semblance, like Xing. You four are each like one of the four elder dragons."

"While I know it must sound far-fetched, you must understand that the situation is far too urgent. If we're wrong, then we will return you all here immediately. But if we're right, we'll need you all to stop this war as soon as possible," added Ironwood.

Summer looked down at Ruby. "What do you think, Little Rose? Do you wanna go see some dragons?"

"Yeah! C'mon, Yang, let's go!"

"Yeah! Moms, Dad, Qrow! Let's go see dragons!"

The adult members of the family looked around at each other, until all eyes were on Tai. He sighed, then began in a soft, yet firm voice. "The legend tells of Sixteen Dragons. There are only six of us. Do you know who else is a… Dragon-like… person?"

"We're tracking potential candidates on all continents. However, the only people who meet the requirements of pairing with Eissen are the Schnee children," Ironwood said with a wince. "While I know that isn't ideal, maybe the younger Schnee – Weiss – will be our best bet. She is only ten, and from what I remember of her she was the least inclined to follow in Jacques' footsteps."

Tai narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Okay then. Any more adults?"

"Possible, but unlikely. I don't know if you've heard, but with the decline of Grimm, adults have started losing their semblances. You four have been unaffected due to your constant use of them in your day-to-day lives."

"So we'll likely be the only adults. And because we're… linked?... to the Elder Dragons, we'll probably be in charge. What kind of oversight will we be looking at?"

"In all likelihood, only your own consciences and those of the dragons."

"That's a dangerous game."

"You forget that the Dragons were once children who refused to strike down their opponents due to the strain it put on their hearts," supplied Ozpin. "They're older now, and have probably hunted for food, so it might be easier, but your main objective will be to gather them in a show of force to keep fighting from happening. If the Atlesians or the Menagerians refuse to cooperate, then you may… put them down. Honestly, what you do will depend largely on the dragons."

"Dad, can we _go_ now?" piped up Yang, who, along with Ruby, was clearly growing impatient.

Tai looked at each of his children, wives, and his brother in turn, before turning towards the General. "Let's go."

()()()()()()()()

The bullhead ride was understandably… eventful, with two hyperactive children on board. Ironwood himself appeared to have piloted the craft from his admittedly massive airship. Ozpin rode in the main cabin with the family, and answered all of their questions regarding both himself and the Dragons to the best of his ability.

"So you're telling me that the Sixteen Weapons will be nothing like you last saw them?"

"Correct. Silver enchanted them to constantly remain at least a step ahead of current technology. I wouldn't be surprised if the simple blades of yore had turned into hardlight lasers and the simple firearms were magnetically propelled."

Ruby, of course, grew more and more excited as the flight went on. Eventually, however, another bullhead pulled up alongside them.

"That should be young Jaune Arc. He has a connection to Joan. He'll be the last one we pick up from Vale. We'll head to Menagerie next, in order to beat the Atlesian military. After that, we'll circle around to Mistral, then Atlas for our one passenger to pick up there, and finally to Vacuo. Once we've gotten everyone together, we'll leave for Reaper's nest."

Qrow looked up in interest. "How old is he?"

"He, like most of the children who are compatible is ten. Young Miss Rose is the youngest of all."

Qrow looked over at his nieces, who were happily playing with their mothers as Tai watched out the opposite window, clearly thinking.

"Tell me straight, quiet enough so they won't hear. What are the actual risks?"

Ozpin sighed. "From the Dragons, or from the warring parties?"

"Both."

"The Dragons pose no threat to the children, at least. You four adults might have to be worried, but I'm not sure."

"Hypothetical situation, then: we die; what happens to Ruby and Yang?"

"I will personally see to their care. However, you four have such a close relationship with the girls that the Dragons will likely sense that and leave you be. The main issue is the weapons. It was assumed that they could only be wielded by children due to their nature. But one of the first things Silver did was change the weapons' very nature. We're not sure if you adults will survive."

Qrow had kept his eyes on his family for the entire time. "In that case, Tai, Summer and Raven aren't allowed to touch the weapons until I've deemed them safe."

"From what I've seen, they won't like that."

"They'll have to deal with it."

()()()()()()()()

The trip to Menagerie was mostly uneventful. Minus the Arc family being completely incapacitated by motion-sickness. One boy, nine girls, and two parents constantly in the bathrooms and over the gunwales. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Jaune from becoming fast friends with Ruby and Yang. General Ironwood had recommended that the two sisters not get attached to the Arc sisters, which had sparked an argument between the general and Father Arc over whether or not they'd be allowed to go. At Ozpin's insistent refusal, he had thrown a fit and been confined to quarters.

This argument had prompted Tai to ask who all would be going to see Reaper.

"Only the Sixteen and myself. I have a personal sailing vessel kept stocked in Vacuo for this very reason."

"Why can't we take the airship?"

"Because Reaper would destroy it."

Menagerie currently held only one of the Sixteen within its desert interiors. Blake Belladonna, daughter of the current head of state, had a shadow-clone semblance. Ghira sent Kali to go with her, as he was about to be embroiled in war.

In Mistral, Pyrrha Nikos, a noble's daughter, as well as Neptune Vasilias, Scarlet David, we're picked up. Two orphans, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, we're caught stealing from the General, but rather than punish them, he brought them along too, as Ozpin could sense they were linked as well.

Atlas saw Miss Weiss Schnee picked up, accompanied by Winter, much to the chagrin of their father. The only way Ironwood could convince him was that Weiss would be safe from an assassin's blade.

The final two were easier. The orphanage that Sun and Sage lived in in Vacuo was overcrowded, and after Ironwood promised that even if the Dragons could not be found he would offer them jobs and positions on the air-ship.

He soon regretted that decision. Sage was perfectly fine, calm, cool, and collected. Sun, in a word, was a menace. He quickly befriended Blake Ruby and Jaune, but because Ruby had taken a shine to Weiss, to Winter's chagrin and Weiss's joy, he and Blake were often literally dragged to hang out with her. And because Winter was _very_ protective of the little heiress, she would very closely observe all children present. Either Summer or Kali were always present to make sure the cold woman was never outwardly untoward.

Summer and Raven quickly grew to enjoy Kali's presence. She had a positive energy about her and she knew how to immediately slip into "mom mode". Tai found a way to calm down the Arcs, mostly through the efforts of assuring them that he, his wives (anyone who heard that normally gave a double take) and Qrow would be with the children every step of the way.

()()()()()()()()

"Ozpin, how will the organization of the Dragon-Human/Faunus pairs go?" asked Ironwood. A curious Winter stood behind him, having left Weiss in Summer's care.

"We should group them based on how the dragons were last grouped when I checked on them last."

"And how was that?"

"Well, their chosen leader, King Xiang, normally stays in his nest with his two mates Rayan and Rose. Their nests are close by, as Reaper tells me; he stays alone. Rogue and Eissen are mates, so Ruby and Weiss will be partners. Belle and Xing are mates, so Blake and Yang will be paired. Joan and Nike were courting, last I checked, so Jaune and Pyrrha should work together. Freyja and Lotus have been together since they were human, so the orphans Nora and Ren will remain together. Sol, Togira, Ostháto, and Triton tended to run together, so unless they've split of into pairs then Sun, Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune will be put into a team of four."

Winter chose that moment to pipe up. "Wait, the legends said that Rogue and Eissen are both female. How can they be mated without…"

"The Dragons have magic we could never understand. Why should we judge them by our standards if they're so far above us?" asked Ozpin. "Do not be afraid of what you do not understand."

Winter looked down, deep in thought. Meanwhile, the airship landed at a small island of the north coast of Vacuo. The island only had a landing pad, a dock and a large log cabin. At the docks, a three-masted schooner was docked, sails tied up against storms.

"That is the _Beacon_ ," said Ozpin too the gathered adults. "She's the fastest sailing vessel left on the seas. I'll have to inspect her today for leaks, so you all get settled. There are several rooms, and I request that partners and teams remain together. If you are not one of the Sixteen, I respectfully request that you return to Vacuo with the good General. Miss Belladonna, Miss Schnee, I hope you two do not return to your respective countries. War is a dark and terrible thing, trust me, I know. And finally, General Ironwood will have nondisclosure agreements drawn up for all of you. Sign them, and never speak of what you have learned here again." As he said his last sentence, the sun had begun to glint off his glasses at the perfect angle to shroud his eyes.

The remaining chaperones said goodbye to their charges, some more reluctantly than others. Then, Summer and a visibly nervous Raven toured the house and assigned rooms while Qrow and Tai-Yang followed Ozpin to inspect the ship. That night, food was prepared, children were tucked in, and the adults went to bed planning for tomorrow.

()()()()()()()()

 **A/N: So that's that. It's a little short for my new mandatory minimum, but it was such a good place to stop that I had to. Next time, the ship ride! And unlike Clash of Clans, this ship won't be sailing through five days of boredom. And before you ask, yes, Tai brought his shotgun and Qrow brought his rifle. What they face might be too much for that though. Stay tuned.**


End file.
